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A. DISCOURSE 



?tf(L 



ON THE DEATH OF 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN, 



PREACHED IN STILLWATER, N, Y„ 



April 16th, 1865, 



BY REV. WILLIAM M. JOHNSON. 




PUBLISHED BY REQUEST 



TROY, N . Y . : 

DAILY AND WEEKLY TIMES PRINTING HOUSE, 211 RIVER STREET. 

18G5. 



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Stillwater, N. Y., April 22d, 18C5. 

To Rev. Wm. M. Johnson, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church : 

Dear Sir : — The undersigned, participating in the national sorrow that over- 
whelms all loyal hearts, in view of the awful calamity that has hefallen our 
Republic in the death (by assassination) of its great and good President, Abraham 
Lincoln ; and desiring often to recall his shining virtues and his patriotic deeds, 
his integrity of purpose and great wisdom in promoting the welfare of the country 
in whose service he has fallen ; — having listened to your discourse on the solemn 
Sabbath following this sad event, do hereby request the manuscript lor publica- 
tion, and preservation in a more permanent form. 

Very truly yours, 

Reuben Wescott, E. Widdemer. 

Samuel G. Eddy, C. D. Bull, 

E. K. Woolset, G. V. Lansing, 

Wm. M. Bartlett, Egbert Gardner, 

Jared W. Haigiit, Lyman Tucker, 

Lyman Dwight, , G. N. Benton, 

Peter Sciioonmaker, A. W. Grey, 



Stillwater, N. Y., April 24th, 1865. 

To Reuben Wescott, E. Widdemer, S. G. Eddy, E. K. Woolsey, C. D. Bull, 
G. V. Lansing, and others: 
Gentlemen :— I herewith transmit to you the manuscript of which you speak. 
Yours, in the bonds of Christian patriotism, 

Wm. M. Johnson. 



DISCO XT USE 



II Samuel, 1 : 19. " The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places : how 
are the mighty fallen !" 

" Death loves a shining mark, a signal blow ; 
A blow, which, while it executes, alarms ; 
And startles thousands with a single fall." 

All loyal hearts beat sadly and slowly to-day. The nation is 
draped in mourning. We had not yet grown calm from the 
excitement of victory and triumph, we were just highly elated 
with the prospect of peace, when once more darkness covers 
the earth, and gross darkness the people. The sun has gone 
down while it was yet day. The toll of the death-bell follows 
the peal of victory. For " the beauty of Israel is slain upon 
thy high places : how are the mighty fallen. Tell it not in 
Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon; lest the daugh- 
ters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncir- 
cumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no 
dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings ; 
for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away." The 
wail of a great people ascends to heaven. And the mournful 
cadences of the bereaved king of Israel can but feebly express 
the agony of our hearts. 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the merciful Conqueror, the pure Pa- 
triot, the Idol of the people, the Chief Magistrate of the nation, is 
dead. And this, too, is greatly aggravated by the fact, that the 
hand of a vile assassin dealt him the murderous blow, and that 
one so gentle, so tender of others, should be a martyr through 
inhuman revenge. Had he died by ordinary disease, in the 
regular course of God's providence, we could have readily said, 
" It is the Lord ; let him do what seemeth him ixood." liul 



now, though we would still recognize God's permissive decree 
in this " sum of all villainies," the blow to us is awfully severe, 
and ordinary consolation affords but little relief. It is a solemn 
hour, and it is a solemn service to reflect upon the sad event. 
We feel that " the Republic has lost its truest friend, its great 
protector, its trusted savior." Next to the Almighty Arm, we 
have placed confidence in him. The voice of calumny has never 
dared to question his love for his country. He loved her with 
the instinctive and unreserved devotion of a child for its mother. 
Possessed of a giant manhood, and the sagacity of astute states- 
manship, and with abundant opportunity to exercise both, he 
has left this record, he has done what he could. Great was the 
task which he was called to perform. He was taken quite un- 
expectedly from his quiet home near the Father of Waters, he 
was placed in a new position, he was met by every form of 
perplexity and embarrassment ; hut his brave heart avoided no 
responsibility, lie paled at no opposition, he stumbled at no 
obstacle. In March, J SGI, he took a solemn oath to sustain the 
constitution and the laws, and nobly did he keep his vow, till 
the hand of the assassin deprived him of his life. We have 
believed from the first that he was raised up, and schooled, and 
endowed by Providence, to meet the emergency of the times. 
Again and again has it appeared that God was with him. Again 
and again, when hope was almost gone, have we turned to him, 
as an instrument in the hands of the King of Kings, to save us 
from utter destruction. From this sacred desk the prayer has 
often gone up, that God would keep him in the hollow of His 
hand, would shield him from all danger, and keep his mind linn 
and his heart pure. Those prayers have been all answered by a 
covenant-keeping God till now — //// now He seems to turn away 
His tare from us in ihis greal national bereavement. "Verily, 
thou art a God thai hides! thy self, O God of Israel, the Saviour." 

Abraham Lincoln was a man of the people, from the people, 
and among the people. We never could have loved a titled 
aristocrat, ;i man who boasted of his blood, as vve have loved 

him. All In- antecedents, all In- speeches, all bis public acts, 



indeed his whole course from boyhood up to the day of his death, 
placed him in sympathy with the people. Let us glance briefly 
at his life. 

He was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, (which is now in- 
cluded in Larue county) Feb. 12th, 1S09, and was therefore at 
his death fifty-six years of age. The name is English, and his 
ancestors were co-laborers with William Penn, in settling the 
State of Pennsylvania. They belonged to the Society of 
Friends. Emigration was then as rife as now. The new coun- 
try offered so many inducements to settlers, that only a few 
remained in their first location. Branches of the Lincoln family 
removed to Virginia, to Kentucky, to Indiana, and finally to 
Illinois. The grandfather of our lamented President fell a victim 
to the savage ferocity of the Indians in one of the new settle- 
ments. His father and mother were both born in Virginia, but 
in 1816 removed with their family to the then distant West. 
Like most of the pioneers in the new country, they engaged in 
agricultural pursuits, and here our Chieftain grew up to man- 
hood. There were then no advantages for education in the 
West, as now, and he only obtained snatches of learning, 
amounting in the aggregate to less than a year, and with such 
helps as our young people would hardly think worthy of men- 
tion. His own account of his mental training was substantially 
as follows: It is true, I never went to school much. But 
I remember how, when a mere child, I used to get irritated 
when anybody talked to me in a way I could not understand. I 
don't think I ever got angry at anything else in my life. I can 
remember going to my little bed-room, after hearing the neigh- 
bors talk of an evening with my father, and spending no small 
part of the night walking up and down, and trying to make out 
what was the exact meaning of some of their, to me, dark 
sayings. I could not sleep, though I often tried to, when I got 
on such a hunt after an idea, until I had caught it. This was a 
kind of passion with me, and it has stuck by me. Years after, 
when I commenced the study of law, I constantly came upon 
the word demonstrate. I soon became satisfied that I did not 



understand its meaning. I said to myself, " What do I do when 
I demonstrate more than when I reason or prose ?" I threw down 
my law books, left my situation in Springfield, went home to 
my father's house, and staid there till I could give any proposi- 
tion in the six books of Euclid at sight. Then I returned to 
my law books, satisfied that I knew the meaning of demonstrate. 
And that is the extent of my education. 

After leaving his father, and before taking up the study of 
law, he was variously employed — building boats, sailing on the 
Mississippi, trading, and such like. He was captain of a com- 
pany of volunteers in the Black Hawk war. He w r as ready for 
anything, and efficient in everything. Finally he became post- 
master of a small town, and in the interval of mailing and de- 
livering letters, but mostly in the night, he commenced to 
prepare for the legal profession, borrowing his books in the 
evening and returning them in the morning. From this point he 
began rapidly to rise. It is good for a man to bear the yoke in 
his youth. He bore a heavy one, and experienced all the bene- 
ficial effects. In 1834, '3d, '38 and '40, he was elected to the 
legislature of Illinois, and first took his seat with that body two 
years before he had license to practise law. In 1S47, when he 
was 38 years of age, he became a representative in the National 
Legislature, and two years after he was the author of a scheme 
which was to abolish slavery in the district of Columbia. But 
he only saw his plan consummated after it had been maturing 
fifteen years, and when he was serving his first term as President 
of the United Slates. 

Be first attracted the special attention of the entire nation in 
his memorable contest with the gifted Douglas, during the 
summer of l s ">^. Day alter day, in the presence of large as- 
semblies, these Two giants received and parried each other's 
blows, as only they could do, both displaying eminent ability, 
and at the same time preserving that dignity in debate which is 
the mark of noble minds. Some time in the winter of I s -")!), he 
came to New York, where he spoke before the firsl men of the 
country, in such a manner that all began to forecast his high 



destiny. Subsequently he spoke in many of the New England 
cities, the people everywhere crowding to hear him as if he were 
an oracle, and reading his speeches with the greatest eagerness. 
One little incident which occurred while he was in Connecticut 
will serve better than anything else I can say, to show what 
manner of man he was. After speaking one evening to a large 
audience, and closing his remarks with these noble words : 
" Gentlemen, it has been said of the world's history, hitherto, 
that might makes right; it is for us and for our times to reverse 
the maxim, and to show that right makes might;'''' he was stand- 
ing the next morning at the railroad depot, waiting for the train 
to bear him to the next town, when a clergyman came up and 
was introduced to him. " Ah," said he, "I have seen you be- 
fore." The minister said he thought not. He replied, " I have 
seen you ; you were at the meeting last night, and I saw you 
there." The surprised inquiry then was, " Is it possible that 
you could observe individuals so closely in such a crowd?" " Oh 
yes," said he, " that is my way. I generally look around when 
I am speaking, and I do not forget faces." That was enough to 
stagger the most credulous. But it showed the mighty intellec- 
tual power of the man. To speak extemporaneously at all, 
acceptably, is a great thing. But to speak to thousands of 
strangers, and at the same time be studying and fixing their 
faces, is a gift which nature has not often bestowed upon man. 
In the May following this, he was nominated in Chicago for 
the Presidency, to succeed James Buchanan ; and though in the 
election there were three opposing candidates, he was successful. 
But the hour of his triumph was only the precursor of his peril 
and his trial. That day, when the news of his election was re- 
ceived in Charleston, the first ordinance of secession was decreed. 
And he was hardly seated in the Presidential chair, before the 
slaveholders' rebellion was fairly inaugurated. Even his first 
passage to the capital was obstructed, and only the good hand 
of Providence saved him from assassination then. God spared 
him for long and toilsome service, and for a harder fate. I say 
a harder fate, for then we scarcely dared to hope ; but now when 



he is taken from us, our whole sky is illuminated with the bright 
omens of better times, and we were all preparing to thank God 
for a united, peaceful, and regenerated Republic. 

His first term of administration was probably more difficult 
than any that our Presidents have passed through. The country 
did not fully know him yet, but we did know that the greatest 
prudence and wisdom were necessary to save us from irretrieva- 
ble ruin. The South was already in arms and prepared for war, 
while the North was crippled on every side. False men in the 
government had carefully prepared everything for the success of 
the rebellion. With empty hands, and an empty treasury, with 
no navy and no army, with mighty foes arrayed before him, 
and masked batteries in his rear, our noble President went to 
work. We prayed that the God of nations would help him, but 
we looked on trembling lor the result. Now that he has served 
us so long and so well, and while his body is preparing for the 
tomb, we look back and marvel to see what God hath wrought 
through him. 

He called around him an efficient cabinet, the first and ablest 
of whom, has now, like him, been made the victim of barbaric 
revenge. The sagacity of Lincoln and the diplomacy of Seward, 
have been, under God, the salvation of the government. 

The next business after selecting his Cabinet, was to organize 
an army, and engage in war against an enemy of our own blood. 
It was his to subdue a rebellious household. His first proclama- 
tion did not come up to the expectation of loyal hearts. But we 
hoped he would do better, and he did. Gradually he grasped 
the whole condition of affairs. If he thought at first that 
seventy-live thousand men could suppress the rebellion, he 
thought just as thousands more in the North thought and spoke. 
lie was never hasty, never precipitate ; but, on the other hand, 
a calm review of his whole administration plainly shows he was 
never dilatory, never too hue. 

His first order was to reinforce Sumter, beleaguered by thou- 
sands of rebels. In that, he was as careful as he was deter- 
mined. Not one word was said by him, then, or after, to arouse 



9 



the least resistance in the Southern heart. The closing words 
of his first inaugural plainly foreshadowed his future policy. II, 
said thou, addressing the traitors from the steps of the Capitol : 
in your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in 
mine is the momentous issue of civil war. You have no oath 
registered in heaven to destroy the government, while 1 have 
the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it. The 
mystic chords of memory, stretching f rom every battle-field and 
patriot grave, to every living heart in this broad land, will swell 
the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will 
be, by the better angels of our nature." Solemn and prophetic 
words! That oath registered in heaven never was violated 
But he scarcely lived to hear the « chorus ol the Union" which 
was just beginning to ascend from millions of enraptured hearts 
Seventy-five thousand men, undisciplined in the art of war 
were insufficient to quell the most gigantic rebellion the world 
has ever seen. He soon called for more volunteers, and then for 
more, till the popular song announced our readiness to furnish 
all that were necessary. « Father Abraham," it said. Yes that 
was the spontaneous response, which we soon learned to make 
to his appeals. He had been trained in the wilderness of the 
West; he was uncouth in maimers, and unpolished in speech • 
but before he had been two years our Chief Magistrate we loved' 
him as a man, we reverenced him as a father. That father, we, 
the bereaved family, mourn as dead to-day. We drape our 
sanctuary with the symbols of our grief; and looking up to God 
we try to say, while tears choke our utterance, -Father in 
heaven, thy will be doHe." 

Perhaps the hardest task he had to do, was to obtain the 
proper leaders for the armies. Winfield Scott was Lieutenant- 
General, but in his dotage. Events soon demonstrated that he 
had not strength adequate to the occasion. Some of our most 
gifted military men had proved false to the baud that nourished 
them, to the government that had munificently endowed them 
with accomplishments and skill. One man was tried, and then 
another. Each had his friends, clamorous for his promotion or 



10 

retention in office. But the President so skillfully and so kindly 
treated them all as to lose the respect of none, and to win the 
love of many. Every one of these generals, including his polit- 
ical opponents, will mourn the loss to the country, and will 
applaud the virtues of the man. Ah yes ! the sorrow is univer- 
sal now. Even many who opposed Mr. Lincoln while living, 
now seem to he loudest in lamenting his death, and deploring 
the great national calamity. 

" Brief, brave anil glorious was his bright career, — 
His mourners were two hosts, his friends and foes ; 
For he was Freedom's Champion, — one of those, 
The few in number, who had not o'erstept 
The charter to chastise which she bestows 
On such as wield her weapons : he had kept 
The whiteness of his soul, and thus men o'er him wept." 

Towards the rebellion, Mr. Lincoln never manifested anything 
like spite or ill-nature. He accepted it as his commission from 
God to quell it. This work he set himself deliberately to per- 
form. But he exhibited no spirit of revenge. He had not the 
savage atrocity of the tyrant. The assassin who shot him leaped 
from the box upon the stage, and waving his dagger exclaimed, 
" Sic semper tyrannis," — So may it always he with tyrants. But 
that grossly belies him. The inhuman traitor added insult to 
cruelty. Just the opposite spirit possessed the breast of the 
murdered man. He was kind and lenient, almost to a fault. 
His subordinates may have been unjust, but he never w r as. His 
heart was as tender as a woman's. Thus he united in his char- 
acter the qualities of true nobility. He was manly, but gentle ; 
he was brave, but compassionate ; he was strong enough to rule, 
but pitiful enough to weep. He lacked the finished accomplish- 
ments of Washington, hut in the positive qualities of his 
character, he was in no respect inferior to the Father of his 
Country. Washington blended in himself all the virtues of the 
old-time heroes; Lincoln reproduced the same virtues in beau- 
tiful symmetry of character, and made all subservient to the 
besl interests of his country. 



11 

The great moral event of his career was the Proclamation of 
Emancipation. All parties had begun to desire that the great 
evil of slavery might be plucked up by the roots. But many 
feared the time had not yet come. With eagle eye he discerned 
the auspicious moment, and proclaimed the dawn of universal 
liberty; throwing, however, the whole responsibility upon the 
traitors in arms. If they returned to their allegiance, as the 
cause of absolute justice demanded, he would not interfere with 
their domestic institutions ; otherwise human bondage was at an 
end. The die was cast. The rebels, with mad faith in an un- 
righteous cause, persisted in their chosen course, and a just God 
visited upon them his holy retribution. Congress soon affixed 
its sanction to the merciful decree, and the loyal part of the 
nation to-day, both North and South, rejoices in the triumphs of 
Liberty. Oh ! America, thou knowest not the debt thou owest 
to the departed hero. The prisoner goes free ; the clanking of 
chains will be heard no more in thy land. Freedom is the 
watchword now, and the Goddess of Liberty, w r ith her mild 
sceptre, will soon rule the world. But the merciful heart has 
stopped its beating, and the pitying eye is glazed in death. 
Ichabod, Ichabod, the glory is departed. But he is not dead. 
His name, his works, his spirit, still live. Embalmed in the 
memory of a grateful people, we will write his name high up 
by the side of Washington, and with subdued thanksgiving re- 
peat his story to our children's children. Let him sleep on. The 
peace of death will be to him as tranquil as the peace he has 
wrought out for the nation. He died in obtaining what we live 
to enjoy. Let his failures be entombed with his inanimate body, 
and only his virtues remembered by his bereaved country. 
" Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : 
Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors ; and 
their works do follow them." 

Our martyred President was a Christian. The following inci- 
dent is well authenticated: A pious gentleman called at the 
executive mansion on business. This being transacted, jusi as 
he was leaving, he turned to Mr. Lincoln and said : " My dear 



12 

sir, I wish to ask you one question. When I left home on this 
mission, my friends charged me to inquire of you, if you loved 
Jesits." This touched a tender chord. The President's eyes 
filled with tears, and for a moment lie was silent. Then he said : 
" When I came to Washington, I was not a Christian. When 
our little boy was taken from us, I was not a Christian. But 
when I went to the battle-field of Autietam, and passed among 
the dead and dying of our brave volunteers, then I became a 
Christian. Yes, I do lore Jesus." 

This satisfies the religious sentiment of the land. In him irr 
lose a friend and brother. But though our sorrow is deep to-day, 
we sorrow not without hope. He has passed from a no hie ser- 
vice on earth, to the nobler services of heaven. He was taken 
away from his earthly reward, only to receive a crown that shall 
never fade away. He was taken from the midst of his useful- 
ness, and in full vigor, only to be a brighter trophy in heaven. 
Had he been less our idol, had he been less worthy, had he been 
less noble, had he been less prepared, God might have spared 
him to us. Had we been more worthy of him, had we sustained 
him better, had we been more careful to guard him, perhaps he 
might have been spared to us. But oh ! no. The appointed 
time had come, and an inscrutable Providence permitted the 
assassin to take his life. It is too late now to say that he ought 
not to have gone out unguarded. It was his way. We all 
trembled when he went to Richmond. But there he was not 
harmed. This proves to us his personal bravery on the one 
hand, and his confidence in his fellow-citizens on the other. He 
was spared in Richmond, only to return to the Capital to die by 
the hand of violence. "Shall there he evil in the city, and the 
Lord hath not done itV" Here we stop, not striving to fathom 
the depths of Providence. u We are dumb with silence before 
(iod. We hold our peace, even from good, and our sorrow is 
stirred." 

In this calamitous event, God speaks to us with an awful 
voice. .And whal are the lessons of the hour'/ 

The tiisi lesson is this: " Pul nol your inisi in princes, uor 



13 

in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth 
forth, he returneth to his earth ; in that very day his thoughts 
perish." The arm of man is a frail support. Trusting to this, 
we lean upon a broken reed. " It is better to trust in the Lord 
than to put confidence m man. It is better to trust in the Lord 
than to put confidence in princes." "We feel the force of these 
Scriptures now, more clearly than ever before. Perhaps we 
were inclined to hero-worship. Perhaps we were inclined to 
exalt the man above the Almighty Supporter. Never since the 
days of "Washington, has this nation had so much faith in any 
one man as in Abraham Lincoln. His friends and foes alike 
knew that he was honest. And we gave him our implicit trust. 
But if we have transferred our faith in God to him, now we 
must receive the Divine rebuke. Here, then, warned in a man- 
ner we cannot mistake, we fix our resolve. " Some trust in 
chariots, and some in horses ; but we will remember the name 
of the Lord our God." 

Once more, in this calamity we are taught, as God has 
taught us in the past, that he alone decides the destinies of 
nations. " Promotion cometh neither from the East, nor from 
the West, nor from the South. But God is the Judge : he put- 
teth down one and setteth up another." " Be still, and know 
that I am God." Thou Sovereign of the Universe, teach us in 
sadness to recognize thy Supreme Authority. Now we commit 
our way unto God, trusting that he will direct our steps. 

My fellow-citizens, shall we stop a moment before we sepa- 
rate, to forecast the future '( to ask what next '? The helm of 
government is already in untried hands. Does the new pilot 
know the shoals? ."Will he weather the gale? These are the 
questions that now burden the national* heart. "We turn from 
the dead President to the living, and ask what is to be. Ah ! 
there we are at fault again. Let us turn unto God. From our 
lost hope, already far beyond recall, we turn our eyes heaven- 
ward, and, thanking God for the departed hero, lor his noble 
life, for his kind and honest heart, for his manly words, for his 
Christian faith, and thai we were blessed by his services so long ; 



14 

— we also pray to the same Sovereign Ruler, that He will take 
the new President under His special care, that He will guard 
his life from danger, that He will keep his heart from corrup- 
tion, his mind firm, and his arm strong ; and that our national 
life may yet be spared, peace inaugurated, and we become a 
people accepted and blessed of God — a peculiar people, zealous 
of good works. 



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_B S '12 



